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In a Glass Grimmly

Frog joins cousins Jack and Jill in leaving their own stories to seek a magic mirror, encountering such creatures as giants, mermaids, and goblins along the way. Based in part on fairy tales from the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen.

The Grimm Conclusion

The story I'm about to tell is the darkest fairy tale of all. Also, it is the weirdest. And the bloodiest. It is the grimmest tale I have ever heard. And I am sharing it with you. Two children venture through forests, flee kingdoms, face ogres and demons and monsters, and, ultimately, find their way home. Oh yes, and they may die. Just once or twice. That's right. Fairy tales are awesome.

The Inquisitor's Tale: Or, the Three Magical Children and Their Holy Dog

It's 1242. On a dark night, travelers from across France cross paths at an inn and begin to tell stories of three children: William, an oblate on a mission from his monastery; Jacob, a Jewish boy who has fled his burning village; and Jeanne, a peasant girl who hides her prophetic visions. They are accompanied by Jeanne's loyal greyhound, Gwenforte...recently brought back from the dead.

The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell

Alex and Conner Bailey's world is about to change, in this fast-paced adventure that uniquely combines our modern-day world with the enchanting realm of classic fairytales. The Land of Stories tells the tale of twins Alex and Conner. Through the mysterious powers of a cherished book of stories, they leave their world behind and find themselves in a foreign land full of wonder and magic where they come face-to-face with the fairy tale characters they grew up reading about. But after a series of encounters with witches, wolves, goblins, and trolls alike, getting back home is going to be harder than they thought.

The Girl Who Drank the Moon

Every year the people of the Protectorate leave a baby as an offering to the witch who lives in the forest. They hope this sacrifice will keep her from terrorizing their town. But the witch in the forest, Xan, is kind and gentle. She shares her home with a wise Swamp Monster named Glerk and a Perfectly Tiny Dragon, Fyrian. Xan rescues the abandoned children and delivers them to welcoming families on the other side of the forest, nourishing the babies with starlight on the journey.

Wolf Hollow

Growing up in the shadows cast by two world wars, Annabelle has lived a mostly quiet, steady life in her small Pennsylvania town. Until the day new student Betty Glengarry walks into her class. Betty quickly reveals herself to be cruel and manipulative, and while her bullying seems isolated at first, things quickly escalate, and reclusive World War I veteran Toby becomes a target of her attacks. While others have always seen Toby's strangeness, Annabelle knows only kindness.

The Night Gardener

The Night Gardener follows two abandoned Irish siblings who travel to work as servants at a creepy, crumbling English manor house. But the house and its family are not quite what they seem. Soon the children are confronted by a mysterious spectre and an ancient curse that threatens their very lives. With Auxier’s exquisite command of language, The Night Gardener is a mesmerizing read and a classic in the making.

Pax

Pax and Peter have been inseparable ever since Peter rescued him as a kit. But one day the unimaginable happens: Peter's dad enlists in the military and makes him return the fox to the wild. At his grandfather's house 300 miles away from home, Peter knows he isn't where he should be - with Pax. He strikes out on his own despite the encroaching war, spurred by love, loyalty, and grief, to be reunited with his fox. Meanwhile Pax, steadfastly waiting for his boy, embarks on adventures and discoveries of his own....

The Westing Game

One fateful day, 16 people gather for the reading of the will of the very rich Samuel W. Westing. To their surprise, the will turns out to be a contest, challenging the heirs to find out who among them is Westing's murderer. Only two people hold all the clues. One is a Westing heir...and the other is the listener!

Bad Magic

Magic is BAD. As in fake. Cheesy. Unreal. At least, that's what Clay, who has seen one magic show too many, thinks. When words from his journal appear mysteriously on his school wall as graffiti, he never imagines that magic might be to blame. And when the same graffiti lands him at Earth Ranch, a camp for "troubled" kids on a remote volcanic island, magic is the last thing he expects to find there. But at Earth Ranch, there is one strange surprise after another, until Clay no longer knows what to expect.

Ghost

Ghost. Lu. Patina. Sunny. Four kids from wildly different backgrounds with personalities that are explosive when they clash. But they are also four kids chosen for an elite middle school track team - a team that could qualify them for the Junior Olympics if they can get their acts together. They all have a lot to lose, but they also have a lot to prove, not only to each other, but to themselves.

Wonder

Wonder is the funny, sweet and incredibly moving story of Auggie Pullman. Born with a terrible facial abnormality, this shy, bright ten-year-old has been home-schooled by his parents for his whole life, in an attempt to protect him from the stares and cruelty of the outside world. Now, for the first time, Auggie is being sent to a real school - and he's dreading it. The thing is, Auggie's just an ordinary kid, with an extraordinary face.

When Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm published their Children's and Household Tales in 1812, followed by a second volume in 1815, they had no idea that such stories as "Rapunzel", "Hansel and Gretel", and "Cinderella" would become the most celebrated in the world. Yet few people today are familiar with the majority of tales from the two early volumes, since in the next four decades the Grimms would publish six other editions, each extensively revised in content and style.

When the Sea Turned to Silver

Pinmei's gentle, loving grandmother always has the most exciting tales for her granddaughter and the other villagers. However, the peace is shattered one night when soldiers of the emperor arrive and kidnap the storyteller. Everyone knows that the emperor wants something called the Luminous Stone That Lights the Night. Determined to have her grandmother returned, Pinmei embarks on a journey to find the Luminous Stone alongside her friend, Yishan.

A Snicker of Magic

Midnight Gulch used to be a magical place, a town where people could sing up thunderstorms and dance up sunflowers. But that was long ago, before a curse drove the magic away. Twelve-year-old Felicity knows all about things like that; her nomadic mother is cursed with a wandering heart. But when she arrives in Midnight Gulch, Felicity thinks her luck's about to change. A "word collector", Felicity sees words everywhere - shining above strangers, tucked into church eaves, and tangled up her dog's floppy ears - but Midnight Gulch is the first place she's ever seen the word "home".

Loot: How to Steal a Fortune

On a foggy night in Amsterdam, a man falls from a rooftop to the wet pavement below. It's Archibald McQuinn, the notorious cat burglar, and he's dying. As sirens wail in the distance, Archie manages to get out two last words to his young son, March: "Find jewels." But March learns that his father is not talking about hidden loot. He's talking about Jules, the twin sister March never knew he had. No sooner than the two find each other, they're picked up by the police and sent to the world's worst orphanage. It's not hard time, but it feels like it.

Ungifted

Teens and pre-teens flock to any new offering from New York Times best-selling author Gordon Korman. Told through multiple viewpoints, Ungifted follows Donovan Curtis through his year at a magnet school for gifted and talented kids. Thanks to an administrative foul-up, the decidedly mediocre student Donovan finds himself enrolled in the Academy of Scholastic Distinction. Out of place and out of luck, Donovan joins the robotics team. And while he learns a few lessons from his gifted classmates, he also teaches a few of his own.

Echo

Audie Award, Middle Grade, 2016. Lost and alone in the forbidden Black Forest, Otto meets three mysterious sisters and suddenly finds himself entwined in a puzzling quest involving a prophecy, a promise, and a harmonica. Decades later Friedrich in Germany, Mike in Pennsylvania, and Ivy in California each become sinterwoven when the very same harmonica lands in their lives, binding them by an invisible thread of destiny. All the children face daunting challenges: rescuing a father, protecting a brother, holding a family together.

Space Case

Like his fellow lunarnauts - otherwise known as Moonies - living on Moon Base Alpha, twelve-year-old Dashiell Gibson is famous the world over for being one of the first humans to live on the moon. And he's bored out of his mind. Kids aren't allowed on the lunar surface, meaning they're trapped inside the tiny moon base with next to nothing to occupy their time - and the only other kid Dash's age spends all his time hooked into virtual reality games.

Fuzzy Mud

Fifth-grader Tamaya Dhilwaddi and seventh-grader Marshall Walsh have been walking to and from Woodridge Academy together since elementary school. But their routine is disrupted when bully Chad Hilligas challenges Marshall to a fight. To avoid the conflict, Marshall takes a shortcut home through the off-limits woods. Tamaya, unaware of the reason for the detour, reluctantly follows. They soon get lost. And then they find trouble - bigger trouble than anyone could ever have imagined.

The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: Book I: The Mysterious Howling

Of especially naughty children, it is sometimes said: “They must have been raised by wolves.” The Incorrigible children actually were. Discovered in the forests of Ashton Place, the Incorrigibles are no ordinary children: Alexander keeps his siblings in line with gentle nips; Cassiopeia has a bark that is (usually) worse than her bite; and Beowulf is alarmingly adept at chasing squirrels.

Jim &#34;The Impatient&#34; says:"ALL BOOKS ARE JUDGED BY THEIR COVER UNTIL THEY ARE"

The Mysterious Benedict Society

ARE YOU A GIFTED CHILD LOOKING FOR SPECIAL OPPORTUNITIES? Dozens of children respond to this peculiar ad in the newspaper and are then put through a series of mind-bending tests. (And you, dear listener, can test your wits right alongside them.) Only four children - Reynie, Kate, Sticky, and Constance - succeed. Their challenge: to go on a secret mission that only the most intelligent and inventive children could complete.

The Wild Robot

When robot Roz opens her eyes for the first time, she discovers that she is alone on a remote, wild island. Why is she there? Where did she come from? And, most important, how will she survive in her harsh surroundings? Roz's only hope is to learn from the island's hostile animal inhabitants. When she tries to care for an orphaned gosling, the other animals finally decide to help, and the island starts to feel like home. Until one day, the robot's mysterious past comes back to haunt her....

From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler

When suburban Claudia Kincaid decides to run away, she knows she doesn't just want to run from somewhere she wants to run to somewhere--to a place that is comfortable, beautiful, and preferably elegant. She chooses the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Knowing that her younger brother, Jamie, has money and thus can help her with the serious cash flow problem she invites him along.

Publisher's Summary

Adam Gidwitz makes a sparkling debut with a work that children are sure to request again and again. Not content within the confines of their own tale, Hansel and Gretel skip out on their story and jump into eight other classic Grimm fairy tales. But all is not sugarplums and candy houses. Danger lies ahead, and Hansel and Gretel have much to learn about avoiding witches’ ovens and making sure “The End” isn’t their end.

My 11 year old loved the humor and fast pace of this book. Johnny Heller's narration was his usual outstanding work; he's well-suited to funny books.

As the parent, I found this an enjoyable listen, but not as compelling as some -- certainly not one I would have finished on my own.

I would not recommend this for a particularly young and sensitive or squeamish child. Although there was nothing problematic for us, my son delighted in telling people that Goldilocks was impaled on a church steeple, or some such. In another episode, parents sacrifice their children. One of the recurring themes was how adults -- and especially parents -- are useless at best, and are usually harmful to their children. Although this is a common theme in children's literature (are there any children's books with good and present parents?) the direct and repeated statement of this proposition would make me shy away from it for a little one, especially coupled with the occasional gore.

What made the experience of listening to A Tale Dark and Grimm the most enjoyable?

The narrarator made the story come alive! It was like listening to a family member tell a spooky story around a campfire. My nine year old daughter laughed out loud, was incredibly grossed out and very much entertained. She couldn't wait for the long ride home from school so that we could listen to more of the story!

What other book might you compare A Tale Dark and Grimm to and why?

It was a little bit like Harry Potter meets fairy tales gone bad. Very entertaining!

Which scene was your favorite?

The scene that was our favorite was how Gretel opened the secret door to the mountain.

I absolutely feel in love with this story, so much so that I purchased all the books. The narrator has a way about him and how he takes you in to the stories and envelopes you mind. If I could give more stars I would.😃

Adam Gidwitz does a clever job of winding the famous characters Hansel and Gretel through a number of Grimms' lesser known fairy tales. Heller's narration and performance of the various voices is excellent and makes this a great audio read!